Political Quotes

“tonight's Congressional Black Caucus special order on the global HIV/AIDS pandemic is particularly timely given our current discussions on an authorization bill by the House Committee on International Relations. I want to thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) for his leadership in the Congressional Black Caucus for organizing this very important discussion tonight. Three weeks ago, during the Congressional Black Caucus' special order celebrating Black History Month, I laid out the history of our caucus' work in the Congress on the global AIDS pandemic. I described how our involvement evolved in 1998 with a proposal put forth by my friend, colleague and a distinguished founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman Ron Dellums, calling for an AIDS Marshall Plan. Since that time, support for these proposals has broadened beyond the Congressional Black Caucus to encompass a majority of Members of this Chamber on both sides of the aisle. I am especially proud of the progress that we have made over the years. For example, under the leadership now of our new leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), $42 million was amended to the fiscal year 2001 foreign operations bill to provide the first real increase in spending for our international AIDS programs.”